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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25121353">Found Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelightofmorning/pseuds/thelightofmorning'>thelightofmorning</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abandonment, Child Death, Child Neglect, Child Soldiers, Class Issues, Crimes &amp; Criminals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fantastic Racism, Found Family, Gen, Genocide, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Imprisonment, Misogyny, Non-Graphic Violence, Past Rape/Non-con, Read the tags!, War Crimes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:07:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,388</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25121353</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelightofmorning/pseuds/thelightofmorning</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rustem ibn Setareh al-Bruma wasn't a nice man. But after finding out what Grelod the Kind did to the kids at Honorhall Orphanage, he decided to intervene, and wound up with an unexpected slew of adopted offspring. Then he found a few more orphans. Then he adopted a vampire whose parents made his ex-wife seem like Mother of the Year. Then one of his ex-wife's kids wound up becoming the Listener...</p><p>The choice between personal vengeance and found family isn't as hard as he thought it might be.</p><p>(There's a reference to implied CSA and rape/non-con as implied in Serana's backstory. Read the tags, people!)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Found Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thanks for reading and reviewing. Trigger warning for death, violence, fantastic racism, war crimes, imprisonment, misogyny, alcohol use, classism, criminal acts, corpse desecration, emotional trauma, child neglect, child abuse and mentions of genocide, adultery, child sexual abuse, torture, child abandonment and child death. Dad!Rustem, because he would adopt all the orphaned and abandoned kids in Skyrim. Read the tags, people!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Aventus did it! Hooray!”</p><p>            “Kill one person and you solve so many problems,” observed a ten-year-old girl with bright eyes.</p><p>            “Murder should be your last resort, not your first,” Rustem told her as he sheathed his dagger. The naginata would have been excessive on an evil old crone like Grelod… and he really, really didn’t want to alert his enemies to his presence in the Old Holds. Sigdrifa still wanted a sword-blade divorce. “Random murders coarsen your outlook and make you little better than some bandit by the road.”</p><p>            “Can you be my papa?” asked one of the little boys, who called himself Hroar. “Grelod never let any of us be adopted.”</p><p>            The younger worker was huddling in the corner, whimpering in fear, and Rustem gave her a scathing glance. Constance Michel did nothing to help the children in her care yet they’d probably put her in charge because she was the only one who’d do the job. Honorhall Orphanage was the dumping ground for every unwanted child in Skyrim. If the kids were lucky, they’d grow up and join the Thieves’ Guild. If they weren’t…</p><p>            His blood still boiled at that closet with the manacles. He imagined Callaina in one of those. The Imperial Workhouse was nigh as bad as Honorhall and Mede would have wanted to make sure his daughter never developed a spine. He couldn’t save his daughter. But he’d saved these kids.</p><p>            “Please?” asked another child, a scrawny little Breton boy.</p><p>            Rustem looked around at the shabby building, noted the too-thin faces of the kids and the patched rags they called clothing. Maven Black-Briar supposedly ran this place and it was clear she didn’t do it. His fingers twitched. He should probably stop by and deal with her too. Fuck Astrid and her connections.</p><p>            “You really want a man who kills people for money as your father?” he asked the children clustered around him.</p><p>            “You probably won’t beat us,” the girl said with a cynical laugh.</p><p>            “Or starve us,” said the Breton boy. “We can work hard! We’ll be useful, I promise.”</p><p>            “You’re kids. You shouldn’t have to be useful,” Rustem growled. “One thing to have chores, but another to be worked like dogs…”</p><p>            Rustem ibn Setareh al-Bruma had a reputation as a ruthless, even cruel man to his enemies, capable of the pettiest reasons to murder an offending party, incapable of keeping even the smallest vow. Only Ulfric Stormcloak and his wife had higher bounties on their heads, and that was mostly because they had an army that might just crush the Legion in Skyrim. Few would credit him with finer feelings like compassion, love and mercy.</p><p>            Faced with four sets of puppy-dog eyes, knowing there were at least four more orphans in Skyrim he knew of, his resolve melted like butter. He couldn’t save his daughter. But he’d save these kids.</p><p>…</p><p>Four became eight when Lucia, Sofie, Alessan and Aventus were added to the family. Heljarchen Hall got an unplanned extension and the other two members of the Pale Sanctuary – Jenassa and Cicero – found themselves unexpected babysitters. Jenassa took it in her stride with a roll of her eyes but Cicero…</p><p>            “…For fuck’s sake, Cicero, two unsanctioned murders?” Rustem demanded of the Night Mother’s Keeper after Sissel and Britte had been tucked into bed. “One of them a Redguard!”</p><p>            “Cicero will not apologise,” the jester said firmly. “Poor sweet Sissel and Britte were bullied by their father and didn’t you know that Brenuin used to steal the money dear little Lucia made begging? Cicero will protect his family. He couldn’t protect his old one.”</p><p>            Rustem growled something under his breath and stalked off. He could hardly argue with the jester.</p><p>            Uncle Cicero taught all the children how to fight with a dagger and Jenassa unbent enough to teach them reading, writing and painting. Sissel already knew some Destruction magic, which she promptly shared with the others, and Alessan knew about sailing and fishing. Within six months, Heljarchen Hall rang with the sounds of children playing and Rustem reflected on how much of his children’s lives he’d missed. Cirroc had turned out alright at the Sword-Saints’ monastery but…</p><p>            “So this is where you’ve been hiding.”</p><p>            At the sound of Astrid’s poisoned-honey contralto, Rustem turned, hand on his dagger. “You knew where to find me,” he grated. “If you – or that bitch Sigdrifa – try anything, I’ll bury you so deep that even Sithis won’t find you.”</p><p>            The Speaker of the Falkreath Sanctuary actually stepped back, her eyes widening, and Rustem allowed himself a cold smile. “What the fuck do you want?”</p><p>            “I wanted to know why you stole a kill of ours!” Astrid snapped, collecting herself. “You’ve been stealing business-“</p><p>            “We’ve been doing the contracts we hear about up here,” Rustem interrupted harshly. “Nothing you’d touch because they’re too pissant for you.”</p><p>            “You’ve been undermining my authority as Speaker!” Astrid told him. “I should gut you-“</p><p>            “You’re Speaker of the Falkreath Sanctuary, I’m Speaker of the Heljarchen Sanctuary. Neither of us have authority over the other,” Rustem interrupted again. “Threaten violence again and I’ll send you to Sigdrifa in pieces.”</p><p>            Astrid blanched, quickly assured him she wouldn’t, and scurried back to Whiterun with her tail between her legs.</p><p>            It was two moons later when Rustem was travelling through Hjaalmarch that he met a vampire called Serana, who feared her father would destroy the sun to allow vampires to rule the world. On finding out that Harkon had put his own daughter through the rites that made her a Daughter of Coldharbour, Rustem decided to spend a few weeks destroying Clan Volkihar on principle. Harkon managed to make Sigdrifa look like Parent of the Year. Lacking other options, Serana followed him back to Heljarchen Hall and found herself the adopted big sister of the twelve children – Rustem had found Blaise working in the stables for food and a pallet in Haafingar and the Legion orphaned Frodnar by executing his parents as Stormcloaks – before she knew it.</p><p>            Runa, Hroar, Francois, Samuel, Sissel, Britte, Frodnar, Alessan, Blaise, Aventus, Sofie, Lucia, Serana… Rustem found himself tending scraped knees, sorting out squabbles over toys, listening to stories and making sure that they didn’t eat too many sweets before dinner. Serana threw herself into the work of a Dark Sister and things with the Falkreath Sanctuary settled down after Festus talked some sense into Astrid. Maybe the Speaker hadn’t been with the Shieldmaidens long enough to become utterly certain it was her way or the highway.</p><p>            Then Tullius won the Battle of Whiterun, piked Galmar Stone-Fist’s head at the gates of the city, took the Rift and the Pale in short order, and was making plans to march on Winterhold and Windhelm. Rustem hadn’t been paying attention to the external politics and now some Nord Praefect was at his front door, demanding to speak to the franklin who lived here.</p><p>            “That’d be me,” Rustem said as he pushed past an irate Jenassa and a white-faced Serana. “Who the fuck are you to be scaring my family?”</p><p>            “Praefect Hadvar Harnbjornsson,” answered the soft-voiced, plain-faced Nord with heavy shoulders. He had ten Legionaries with him. “I’m also the Last Dragonborn.”</p><p>            “Congratulations for you. Shouldn’t you be stuffing Alduin into the grave instead of picking on a bunch of kids?” Rustem countered.</p><p>            “The sooner the civil war’s ended, the sooner I can deal with Alduin,” Hadvar said flatly.</p><p>            “Stand down, Praefect,” ordered a vaguely familiar woman at the back. “None of us want to get into a brawl with Rustem Aurelius. Not around kids, at least.”</p><p>            She pushed her way past the Legionaries, a compact brunette with enough scars to make a twenty-year veteran wince, her scout armour well-worn and blackened for nightwork. Her blue-green eyes were glacial and while broken at least twice, her nose was a beak that only a Colovian could possess… but she was clearly a Nord.</p><p>            “He’s a gods-be-damned traitor,” began the Dragonborn, only to be silenced by a scathing glance.</p><p>            “Technically speaking, killing Decimus Mede was an act of war by Hammerfell, not treason as Rustem had already forsworn his Imperial citizenship,” she said quietly. “Tell me, Dragonborn, do you really, <em>really</em> want to become known as the man who slew a father in front of his kids? That might just rally the Stormcloaks’ morale enough for them to retake the Pale and the Rift.”</p><p>            Hadvar swore vilely and Serana automatically snapped, “Watch your language! There are children present!”</p><p>            The female Legionary grinned at her. “You’d be the vampire, right? Thanks for not stabbing Irkand. He’s a pain in the arse but he’s my uncle.”</p><p>            “Callaina?” Rustem blurted. “I thought you were dead-“</p><p>            “Legally, Aurelia Callaina is dead,” she said with a sigh. “They call me Sica now. I’m Legate Tenebrae of the Bruma Fourth. I figured I should come along to make sure someone didn’t accidentally doom the world or orphan a bunch of kids.”</p><p>            The Legate Tenebrae was the commanding officer who oversaw all covert operations. They’d taken his child and turned her into a Sithis-damned <em>assassin</em>. One who didn’t even have the family of the Brotherhood to support her.</p><p>            Hadvar practically vibrated with the urge to commit violence. “He should be brought to justice-“</p><p>            “Stand <em>down</em>, Praefect,” Sica repeated softly. “By Nord law, by Redguard law, what my father did to Decimus and Balgeir was legal. You know what Tullius plans. Do you want to judge a man for avenging his kin when you piked Galmar’s head for killing your father?”</p><p>            Hadvar’s subsequent curse was even viler. It would have made Sanguine blush at the depravity of it.</p><p>            “You’ve got two choices,” Sica continued with another sigh. “You can pack up your family and return to Hammerfell… or you can swear fealty to Jarl Brina Merilis and the Empire. I’m a lot of things. But I won’t be a kinslayer… or party to kinslaying. But I can’t help you if you pick <em>another</em> fight with the Empire.”</p><p>            There was really only one choice. Rustem had left Hammerfell because he’d become a liability to Safiya and Cirroc. The kids needed somewhere stable. “I’ll swear to the Empire. But not Mede,” he growled.</p><p>            Sica’s glance was opaque. “That’s good enough.”</p><p>            Gratingly, he swore allegiance to Brina Merilis, and found himself vested as Thane of the Pale. That got him a huscarl named Gregor, who was able to leaven the kids’ education with a bit of non-sneaky, non-stabby, non-necromantic perspective. It was good for them.</p><p>            “Why did you swear allegiance to the Empire?” Frodnar cried later. “Coulda gone to Hammerfell-“</p><p>            “The Dragonborn is going to marry the Emperor’s granddaughter,” Rustem explained with a sigh, having had a couple flagons of ale to cope with the ceremony’s aftermath. “I’ve heard stories about Whiterun, kiddo. I didn’t want that to happen here.”</p><p>            “And Hadvar’s just ruthless enough to do it,” Sica confirmed softly. “Mede will die, Frodnar. I promise. He’s going to die very soon. A lot of chickens will come home to roost on his doorstep and I intend to be there to see it.”</p><p>            The boy’s eyes lit up. “Tell me how he dies!”</p><p>            “I will.”</p><p>            Later on, Rustem escorted his daughter to the Whiterun border. “I wish I could kill him,” he said. “For what he’s done…”</p><p>            “You’ve always chosen vengeance over family,” Sica noted critically. “The Aurelii usually have.”</p><p>            Rustem flushed with shame. She was right. “You’ve got brothers in Windhelm,” he told her. “If you’re Legate Tenebrae, you mightn’t be able to avoid kinslaying.”</p><p>            “Carcette and Bjarni’s Dunmer girlfriend will handle it,” she answered. “I’ve already put things in motion. I can’t save everyone, but I’ll save who I can.”</p><p>            He didn’t see her for another six moons, not until Windhelm had fallen and Skyrim was abuzz with the mysterious disappearance of Egil Storm-Born. For the sake of Eastmarch, Bjarni had bent the knee, proving that one of Sigdrifa’s kids had some common sense. The new Jarl made him Steward with the understanding that he might inherit the Hold on Brunwulf’s death.</p><p>            Sica’s words were remembered when an athletic Nord with sable-brown hair appeared on Rustem’s doorstep, blue-green eyes feverish with more than illness. “’Darkness rises when silence dies’,” he croaked before falling into Rustem’s arms.</p><p>            Those were, according to Cicero, the Binding Words that identified the new Listener to the Keeper. What kind of trauma had Egil undergone to make him renounce Stendarr for Sithis? No matter. The game was truly afoot.</p><p>            Rustem sent Jenassa to speak to Armand Motierre at Volunruud and alerted Astrid. But he himself stayed home. For once, he would not put vengeance above family. He would be better than his ancestors.</p><p>            No one was surprised to hear, four moons later, that Titus Mede had died in a tragic accident when his ship caught fire from a lightning strike during a terrible storm in Solitude Harbour. Some chose to interpret as the vengeance of Talos. Others blamed the Thalmor. But surprisingly few Imperial loyalists mourned the late Emperor. Even his granddaughter and her new consort seemed more relieved than sad.</p><p>            It was Sica who carried word of the assassination – and the impending invasion of the Dominion – two weeks after news reached the Pale. “Penitus Oculatus?” Rustem asked in disbelief. “You’re the commander of the Penitus fucking Oculatus?”</p><p>            “Someone had to do it,” she said mildly.</p><p>            “You should be ashamed of yourself,” Egil told her bluntly.</p><p>            “I think someone who sold his soul to Sithis to see the Emperor dead shouldn’t throw rocks in glass houses,” Sica countered dryly. “You survived because I had the Vigilants kidnap you, little brother. I am many, many things. But I am no kinslayer or oathbreaker.”</p><p>            “That’s enough, children,” Rustem said. “Sica, you staying for dinner? Sissel wants to show you her newest spell. She’s a lot like you.”</p><p>            The smile she gave wiped the scars and years from her face, showing that maybe little Callaina wasn’t quite dead in the hardened covert operative. “Only if Jenassa’s doing her honey-baked ham.”</p><p>            “Of course she is,” Egil answered. “It’s our favourite dish.”</p><p>            Much to his surprise, he put his arm around Sica and guided her to the dining room where the other kids were lined up. Rustem followed, smiling. Maybe his family was finally complete. Maybe he’d just managed to be a father after all.</p>
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